CH 59

Zhou Rin’s arms tightened around Ji Ning as he kissed him, but he’d barely tasted his sweet warmth when a heavy force came from behind. His shoulder was pulled back with such strength that he was sent flying into the wall, pain throbbing through his back.

“…” 

The Alpha frowned as he straightened back up, his previously neat suit now in a mess. Ark stood by Ji Ning’s side, staring expressionlessly at Zhou Rin with icy silver eyes. After a few seconds, the angel broke eye contact and raised his hand to wipe at Ji Ning’s lips.

The scene burned into Zhou Rin’s eyes as Ji Ning lowered his head to avoid his gaze. Watching this was even more painful than having to see Ji Ning’s intimate relationship with his brother all those years ago.

Back then, he’d told himself it was only because his brother met Ji Ning first that the two of them fell in love, there was nothing he could do about it. Yet now it was obvious that Ji Ning could also love others. It was only him who never stood a chance.

He lowered his head, his eyes slightly red, and Fu Ji almost had a heart attack. He could almost see the bonus (that he hadn’t received yet) flying away from him. He quickly rushed forward to apologise to Zhou Rin and scolded Ark for his actions. 

Seeing Zhou Rin’s expression, Ji Ning felt a sudden wave of guilt. Inside the ABO world, he used the strategy of ‘an untouchable love’, which caused Zhou Rin a lot of torment. He hadn’t wanted to put him through the same situation again.

But the misunderstanding had already occurred…he wondered if it would be better to let Zhou Rin misunderstand like this, when he felt Ark grab his hand. Ark stared at him, his soft eyes showing a little hurt as he asked in a low voice.

“Did you…really love his brother?”

“He loved my brother so much that when my brother died, his misery made him fall severely ill.”

Before Ji Ning could answer, Zhou Rin spoke with a bitter smile on his face. “Don’t be too proud of yourself. If you’re not just a replacement for my brother, you’ll never be able to compete with a dead man.”

“…” Ark was silent for a few seconds, then said suddenly, “I don’t believe you.”

Then he turned towards Ji Ning, waiting for his answer. His heart was very pure, although he didn’t believe Zhou Rin, there was still a hint of unease in his eyes.

The eyes of the three people, including Fu Ji, were all focused on Ji Ning. Ji Ning almost broke out in a cold sweat. Finally, he parted his lips and said softly, “I need to go to the bathroom.” 

He fled to the bathroom in a panic. He’d never thought that one day he would be reduced to hiding in the toilet.

Looking at his pale face in the mirror, he felt the urge to strangle the system operator. If it wasn’t for their faulty system that they still hadn’t fixed in so long, how could he have fallen to this point?

He would have to explain it privately with Ark later…and this was only with two protagonists ganging up on him! What’s worse was that Ozer was still chasing after him. He would have to depend on Fu Qinghan…

He was still lost in his thoughts when someone knocked on the door of the bathroom. Zhou Rin’s voice came from outside. He’d returned to his normal calm but there was a faint coolness in his tone, “Haven’t you been hiding for long enough? 

Ji Ning really didn’t want to go out and was prepared to sneak away into another world, when Zhou Rin asked him from outside the door, “Are you being hunted by Mo Ling?”

“…” Ji Ning’s heart skipped a beat. Zhou Rin must have seen the news about his wedding with Ozer, otherwise why would he have linked Ji Ning to the appearance of the Mo Ling army?

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This realisation made the air feel heavy in Ji Ning’s lungs and his face paled. Watching his reaction, Zhou Rin removed a small bag of pills from his suit pocket and handed them to him.

“I can help you escape from his pursuit.” He said, “As far as I’m aware, the Mo Ling Empire uses spiritual imprints for identity verification. These pills can temporarily disrupt your spiritual imprint to prevent them from recognising your true identity.”

Ji Ning was taken aback by these words, but instead of denying that he was being hunted, he asked, “Do these pills really work? 

Zhou Rin nodded, “I’ve already had my people verify its contents and effects.”

“But why are you carrying these pills with you?” Ji Ning still didn’t quite believe it.

Zhou Rin didn’t respond. Of course, it was because he’d already prepared. He’d seen the wedding announcement from the Mo Ling Empire before he’d arrived at the Interstellar Paradise. Although the featured video was short, he was struck by how similar the new Empress’s appearance was to Ji Ning.

At the time he could hardly believe it, but he had no way to enter the Mo Ling Palace to confirm that it was Ji Ning. However, before he could despair he received a wedding invitation from the Royal family. 

This unexpected wedding had sent invites to the heads of many planets and countries from all around the galaxy to attend, Zhou Rin included. Reading the invitation in his hand, a random and crazy idea flashed through his head.

If that person really was Ji Ning, he had to steal him away from Mo Ling.

Zhou Rin knew how powerful the Mo Ling Empire was, and what a foolish idea it would be to kidnap their Empress. As soon as they found him out, he would be hunted to death by the Empire and even his family would be implicated.

There were too many dangers, and the possibility of success was too slim, so Zhou Rin forced himself not to act hastily. However, on the off chance that he met Ji Ning again, he sent a lot of money through secret channels to get his hands on an experimental drug that could disrupt a person’s unique spiritual imprint. 

It would be impossible for anyone to escape from Mo Ling without this drug. Zhou Rin wasn’t certain about the identity of this new Empress, but if they really were Ji Ning, he knew stealing him from the Mo Ling Empire would be asking for death.

However, for a reason he couldn’t explain, he acted against his own logic and continued to carry this forbidden drug around with him. Now, in this current situation, he was in the perfect position to steal Ji Ning away.

Although there had been nothing reported in the news, the fact that Ji Ning appeared in the Interstellar Paradise in disguise meant he must have escaped from the Mo Ling Empire by himself. That explained why Ozer had personally brought his army over to search for him.

He didn’t know how Ji Ning escaped previously, but it was unlikely he’d be able to use the same method twice. 

Yet he had this forbidden drug in his hands and could offer it to Ji Ning. They were outside the territory of the Mo Ling Empire and he’d already sent someone to check how the inspections were carried out. This kind of low level inspection was easy enough to fool with the pills they had. As long as they left this planet and returned to the Zhou house, he had countless ways to keep Ji Ning safely hidden.

The handsome Alpha looked down at the pill in his hands, a dark haze in his eyes.

He’d imagined countless scenarios of what it would be like if Ji Ning didn’t love his older brother.

In his heart, Ji Ning was like the brilliant and flawless moon in the sky, whose soft light would only fall on his brother’s body. His radiance never touched anyone else and Zhou Rin could only watch him from the darkness. 

However, today he’d seen that Ji Ning could still fall in love with others, his precious light illuminating other figures. The only one left in the dark was himself.

If that was the case, he might as well imprison him in the name of helping Ji Ning escape from capture, so that he had nowhere else to escape to.

If he hid the moon inside his dark clouds, even the bleakest light would belong only to him.

“The drug has a special purpose, it’s inconvenient for me to reveal it here.” 

He concealed the dark thoughts in his heart and said in a low voice, “If you want to use it, I have other conditions.”

“Tell me.”

Hearing his words, Ji Ning felt a little relieved. He could listen to the conditions first and then decide whether to use the drug, and if he didn’t, he could go straight to Fu Qinghan.

“Come back to the Zhou house with me.” Zhou Rin gave him a deep look, “Even if you have someone else in your heart, won’t you visit my brother’s grave?” 

“…I promise you.”

If that was his only condition, Ji Ning really had no choice.

Zhou Rin raised his lips into a smile. Handing the pills to Ji Ning, he turned and left the room, giving the three who remained some space.

Ark didn’t speak and the room remained silent. Fu Ji left and returned some time later, waving happily at them. 

“There’s no problem with the pills, I just tested them.” He said, “That female assassin was a wanted criminal in Mo Ling, but when I sent her to get verified, she passed without them noticing anything.”

Hearing Fu Ji’s guarantee, Ji Ning felt assured and used one of the shape shifting sweets and one of Zhou Rin’s pills to hide his spiritual imprint. Ark picked up one of the small white tablets and looked down at it for a while, before saying suddenly.

“I’ll come with you to visit that person’s grave.” He looked Ji Ning in the eyes and said seriously, “I’m not going to lose to him, or to anyone else. Ever.”

“Okay, okay, let’s get out of here first.” Caught between his brotherhood and his bonus, Fu Ji coughed and subtly changed the topic, “I’m really scared of the Mo Ling Emperor. As long as we stay here I’ll feel nervous, so let’s leave quickly.” 

For the sake of caution, Ark and Fu Ji also changed their clothes and appearances. They left the villa individually, but close enough that they could still see each other, and blended seamlessly into the crowd of tourists.

The area where the spacecrafts had landed were already filled with people. Tourists across the planet had heard the announcement and rushed over for the inspection. Although the Mo Ling army was efficient, due to the huge mass of people, the size of the crowd was constantly increasing.

Zhou Rin had already entered the VIP fast track lane, but Ji Ning chose to queue up in a larger inspection lane just to be cautious.

Due to the large crowd of people, it wasn’t long before Ji Ning lost sight of the other two. He looked up at the largest spaceship again. The blond monarch sat solemnly inside the hatch, his handsome face cold as he gazed down at the sea of people. 

He wasn’t making any movements, but Ji Ning guessed that Ozer’s spiritual power had enveloped the entire open area, invisibly observing everyone who entered.

This kind of thought was a bit scary. Ji Ning calmed himself down as he waited inside the crowd. Although the queue in front of him seemed massive, it wasn’t long before it was Ji Ning’s turn. He stood under the inspection equipment and allowed himself to be scanned.

‘Test result: Pending.’

The device sent out an automatic notification. The soldier overseeing the inspection smiled at Ji Ning and told him not to be nervous. This didn’t mean that there was anything suspicious about his identity, just that they needed to conduct a more detailed examination. 

Ji Ning was taken over to a smaller open space, just below the spaceship where Ozer sat. There were other people apart from him waiting to confirm their identities, but not very many.

This wasn’t a big problem, right…

Ji Ning felt a slight nervousness in his heart. His eyes darted towards Ozer but unexpectedly, Ozer was looking back at him. He didn’t dare to look away immediately, so he imitated how a normal person would react to seeing the Emperor and bowed to him, keeping his head lowered.

“…” 

The Emperor’s gaze moved over him, but the young woman beside him leaned over slightly to whisper in his ear.

“He has my spiritual mark on him, I can feel it. Your Majesty, the person you’re looking for is him.

The author has something to say: I feel so guilty. I’m posting so late but the chapter is still so short. I swear I will update at least 6000 words on time tomorrow, otherwise I will…I don’t know what I will do, someone else please tell me.

I will apologise with my author for missing my Wednesday chapter…and that this chapter is late as well >w< 

Comment from my friend about Zhou Rin: I think it’s attractive how pathetic Zhou Rin is. There should be more protagonists in harem novels with absolutely no game, it keeps it fresh.